“I refuse to choose between the livelihoods of the union workers who build our highways and bridges, and the childcare and healthcare workers.”
After months of hemming and hawing, the Democrats were finally able to push an infrastructure bill through both the House and Senate.
The package, which originally had a $3.5 trillion price tag, was slashed down to $1.2 trillion, thanks in part to conservative Democrat holdouts in the Senate.
Concessions aside, the existing bill includes investments into bridges and roadways and $66 billion for public transportation around the country, potentially creating more fare-free options like those being pursued in Boston.
Conservatives, of course, are unhappy.
“The only good thing about the infrastructure bill that Congress just passed is that it doesn’t include any money for high-speed rail,” wrote Randol O’Toole, senior fellow at the Cato Institute. “Unfortunately, it did include far too much money for things like Amtrak, urban transit, and rural broadband.”
A few Democrats in the House also opposed the compromise bill, including Boston’s own Ayanna Pressley, as well as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, Jamaal Bowman, and Cori Bush.
“I refuse to choose between the livelihoods of the union workers who build our highways and bridges, and the childcare and healthcare workers who care for our children, elderly, and disabled loved ones,” Pressley said in a statement following the House vote.
“I refuse to choose between our crumbling roads, bridges, public transit system, and our crumbling housing stock. I refuse to pit community member against community member.”
Zack is a veteran reporter. He writes for DigBoston and VICE, and formerly reported for the Boston Courant and Bulletin Newspapers.
